Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Community \Com*mu"ni*ty\, n.; pl. {Communities}. [L. communitas:
   cf. OF. communit['e]. Cf. {Commonalty}, and see {Common}.]
   1. Common possession or enjoyment; participation; as, a
      community of goods.

            The original community of all things. --Locke.

            An unreserved community of thought and feeling. --W.
                                                  Irving.

   2. A body of people having common rights, privileges, or
      interests, or living in the same place under the same laws
      and regulations; as, a community of monks. Hence a number
      of animals living in a common home or with some apparent
      association of interests.

            Creatures that in communities exist.  --Wordsworth.

   3. Society at large; a commonwealth or state; a body politic;
      the public, or people in general.

            Burdens upon the poorer classes of the community.
                                                  --Hallam.

   Note: In this sense, the term should be used with the
         definite article; as, the interests of the community.

   4. Common character; likeness. [R.]

            The essential community of nature between organic
            growth and inorganic growth.          --H. Spencer.

   5. Commonness; frequency. [Obs.]

            Eyes . . . sick and blunted with community. --Shak.